sixteen, twentysix, twentyeight, infinity
by Afterword
Summary: Team 7 mild SasuSaku A long time later, how are they remembered?


Disclaimer: Not Mine.

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_Sixteen, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Eight, infinity_

They became legends when they were sixteen.

The sannin, second try. They weren't perfect, but it worked out.

They were sixteen when Uchiha Sasuke killed his brother, when Uzumaki Naruto defeated Uchiha Madara. They were sixteen when Haruno Sakura beat each of them, one-on-one, and proved that she was even better than her mentor.

They were sixteen when Hatake Kakashi stopped being their teacher and instead became their colleague. He didn't have anything else to teach them.

They were sixteen when Sasuke laughed.

When Naruto cried.

When Sakura refused. _"Sorry, Sasuke, I won't go out with you if you demand it."_

They were sixteen when they finally, finally became an equilateral triangle, when Uchiha Sasuke admitted that he loved her, loved her like infinity.

They were twenty-six when they settled down for the rest of their lives, their ANBU masks (fox, phoenix, tiger) within reach on the wall and Sakura's chakra-replenshing pills on the dresser.

They were twenty-six when Sakura and Sasuke moved out back into the Uchiha compound, and when Hinata moved into Norton's flat, and when they were married in a wedding attacked by kunai and shuriken, and god knows what else, courtesy of the ex-Akatsuki. What was left of them…

They were twenty-eight when they had kids. Uzumaki and Uchiha brats with eyes, incredible eyes.

They were twenty-eight when Sakura said that she'd gotten her happily ever after. When Sasuke responded, "Aah…", and when Naruto said he'd found a replacement for ramen: his family.

They were twenty-eight when they died, leaving behind a heartbroken village, without its heroes, to care for their kids.

They got a monument, engraved with their story.

Sakura and Sasuke's : a story of love, fate, denial, truth.

Sakura and Naruto's: A story of promises, friendship, hope, and joy.

Sasuke and Naruto's: A story of brotherhood, rivalry, understanding, hate.

And most of all, Team 7's: a legend almost too fantastic to be true.

They were buried under a cherry blossom tree, their headstones forming the vertices of an equilateral triangle, each side seven feet, their faces fading away into the asymptote of infinity as the cherry blossoms bloomed one year after year.

Today they would be one hundred and fifty if they were still alive. It's March 3rd. The day Sasuke returned to Konoha, when they started living again. The day they died.

No one knows if their stories are true, or even if there was such thing as a Kyuubi or the Mangekyou. Experts say its impossible, that the Sharingan itself is hard to believe, and they've seen it.

Answers have faded away into the mist.

Was Sakura beautiful?

Did Sasuke feel shattered after he killed Itachi?

Did Naruto stop the curse seal…or was it Sakura?

What color did they wear?

Did Naruto kill Deidara, or Tobi? Or both?

Who were the Akatsuki, anyways?

The Uchiha clan is in full bloom. Kids with maroon hair and black-blue hair, and once in a while that bright pink. Some of them have green Sharingan eyes. There's no more horron or massacre in the family. They are survivors, survivors of the first massacre and the gaping hole that Sakura and Sasuke left.

But some say that the Uchiha clan was never rebuilt because the massacre never happened, that Itachi was merely a figment of imagination, overembellished through the generations.

I know better…that monument is dedicated to real people.

I know because I am an Uchiha, and I found records of the truth.

The truth that Sasuke loved Sakura from the time she cried over his body.

That she didn't love him until he protected her in the Forest of Death.

The truth that Naruto was going to become Hokage.

The records are, ironically, Naruto's. Sakura gave him her diary as a wedding gift. Sasuke gave him a tape with his words, from times far past.

There hasn't been anyone like them. No bonds as unbreakable as theirs, no ove as resilient. No spirits that could kill, heal, and love, in the same instant. Not even people as skilled.

They were 3 almost-perfect parts. Killing, loving, healing, protecting. Black, red, orange. Fire is the brightest in the dark of night.

But their memories won't fade away into the smoke.

The records are my secret, but I'll tell their story.

They were real, they were extraordinary, they were legends.

Naruto. Sasuke. Sakura.

Love. Hate. Friendship. Fire. Ice. Water. Killing. Healing.

Team 7. infinity.

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**A/N**: Reviews keep me satiated. 


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